Dundee lawyer warns legal aid cuts disenfranchising more people

A prominent Dundee solicitor has warned cuts to the legal aid budget have forced more people than ever to represent themselves in court as the Scottish government revealed further cuts to the budget last week.

George Donnelly, vice president of the Dundee Bar Association told The Courier that more people are becoming disenfranchised from access to legal services as a result of the tightening budget.

The 2016-17 allocation for legal aid has been set at £126.1 million, down from the previous year’s £138.6m.

The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) attributed the decline in part to the changes in how criminal cases navigate the justice system.

In 2014-15 there were fewer applications and grants of summary civil and criminal legal aid which was “offset partly by a slight increase in solemn criminal legal aid and continued growth in children’s legal assistance”.

Mr Donnelly said: “We’re finding it’s much more difficult to get legal aid. In serious cases it’s much more difficult to get sanction to employ expert witnesses to properly prepare a defence and you can almost forget about getting legal aid to defend cases in the Justice of the Peace court.

“While they will look upon it as a success, unfortunately it means quite a few people have been disenfranchised (from) getting access to legal services.

“There is no diminution in the amount of cases coming to court, it just means more and more people are being forced to defend themselves and that is one of the consequences they are not concerned about.”

Mr Donnelly added: “The rates have not gone up since 1992 and it’s hard enough to get a grant of legal aid. Every penny of that expenditure is vetted by the legal aid board and is not paid until it is justified.

“The figure includes VAT and experts’ fees and you can get a case where experts’ fees are 10-times the legal fees.

“Those at the top of the scale employ dozens of people. It’s not a case of it going into lawyers’ pockets, far from it. The lawyers who are getting that are working damn hard to get it, at 1992 rates, which are less than what plumbers and electricians are charging.”

Chief executive of SLAB, Colin Lancaster, said: “Access to justice can only be maintained in the face of these financial challenges by working collaboratively with those interested in protecting the vulnerable through a legal aid system that is broad in scope and encourages a strategic approach to meeting needs. I look forward to doing so over the coming months.”